Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties

This is an exuberant group portrait of four extraordinary writers, Zelda Fitzgerald, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, and Edna Ferber, whose loves, lives, and literary endeavors captured the spirit of the 1920s.

It took me a little while to adjust to this book partially, I think, because it reads more like fiction than a non-fiction. Also, there are so many people that someone of a newer generation may not recognize names like Edna Ferber, etc. But once I got started, I enjoyed this book very much... especially the parts about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. There were so parts that are just too funny... like about F. Scott Fitzgerald being chronically obsessed with his small ****. I thought this was a splendid book and well-narrated.

Ender's Shadow

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In this book, Card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean, the one who became Ender's right hand, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers. Bean's past was a battle just to survive. His success brought him to the attention of the Battle School's recruiters.

First, here's some bonus info. You can play this book at 1.5 speed and it sounds almost the same as regular speed.

Ender's Game is a famous book, and rightfully so. But I feel that this is a much better book in many ways. The writing is tighter. The universe is already fleshed out, so the focus lays more on character development. I was very pleased with it and intend to read the rest of the series. Bean is a more street-smart version of Ender. I think I appreciate that a little more.

Mort(e): A Novel

Former house cat turned war hero Mort(e) is famous for taking on the most dangerous missions and fighting the dreaded human bioweapon EMSAH. But the true motivation behind Mort(e)'s recklessness is his ongoing search for a pretransformation friend - a dog named Sheba. When he receives a mysterious message from the dwindling human resistance claiming Sheba is alive, he begins a journey that will take him from the remaining human strongholds to the heart of the Colony.

I hate cats and cannot really defend why I purchased this audiobook. I think I was tired of my usual genres and just needed something outside the box. What I consider a good book is one that gets the point across without just enough emotion and description as not to waste my time. I do not do well with the Margaret Atwood type books, but I am a lover of Hemingway. Short, to the point. Done.This book is very well-written in that respect. So much of it feels like just the right mix of emotion, description and characterization. The plot is intriguing enough, but really its the characters you follow into the chaos. I highly recommend it not just for that, but also because the narration is superb. This guy should narrate every audiobook ever made.

Faithful Place: A Novel

New York Times best-selling author Tana French has won the prestigious Edgar, Barry, Macavity, and Anthony awards. As her third novel featuring the Dublin Murder Squad opens, 19-year-old Frank Mackey is waiting in vain for Rosie, who he’s supposed to run away to London with. But when she doesn’t show, Frank leaves Dublin without her—thinking never to return.

Though of completely different styles and substances, Tana French reminds me of Stephen King when he was in his prime. You'd read four or five books and wonder how one person could spew forth so much talent without any of it repeating. Tana French has a diarrhea of talent. These books of hers are not really that unpredictable. She's not trying to be gimmicky and Sixth Sense you to death. The devil is in the details, the characters... more than anything, the hard choices. Loved this book as I did all the others prior. She is a unique, talented writer that isn't gaining readers because some loser on tv preached to the masses that her book is the new 'it' book like Twilight. No, she's selling books based on raw talent and masterful storytelling. I applaud her and I cherish these works.

Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity is a compelling, emotionally rich story with universal themes of friendship and loyalty, heroism and bravery. Two young women from totally different backgrounds are thrown together during World War II: one a working-class girl from Manchester, the other a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a wireless operator. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted friends. But then a vital mission goes wrong....

I had trouble connecting with this book, but I pressed on with it anyway. The positives are that it is very well-written, very detailed in regards to WWII aircraft and information (Which I enjoyed). But I just didn't like the story and I don't think it's such a superb book to have all these ews and awes about it. Women would probably get more out of it than men. I say that because there is a lot of emotion tied to it whereas other war books like Hemingway, etc. forego all the touchy feely bits.

Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion

In July 1995, San Jose Mercury-News reporter Gary Webb found the Big One - the blockbuster story every journalist secretly dreams about - without even looking for it. A simple phone call concerning an unexceptional pending drug trial turned into a massive conspiracy involving the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, L.A. and Bay Area crack cocaine dealers, and the Central Intelligence Agency.

5 stars for the perfect narration. 5 stars for the compelling, deep-digging investigative work. This book blew my mind to put it lightly. The only con about it is that dozens of Hispanic names are thrown at you that you'll most likely forget and mix up save for the few key players. If you ever wondered why everyone in modern America was on crack in the 90's, well, this will pretty much answer it for you. And you'll also find out what happens to your stolen cars!

Broken Harbor: Dublin Murder Squad, Book 4

In Broken Harbor, all but one member of the Spain family lies dead, and it’s up to Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy to find out why. Mick must piece together why their house is full of cameras pointed at holes in the walls and how a nighttime intruder bypassed all the locks. Meanwhile, the town of Broken Harbor holds something else for Mick: disturbing memories of a childhood summer gone terribly wrong.

The hard part about writing reviews is that you write them in hindsight, after you've finished the book, to influence people who have not yet read the book. I would not want to turn anyone away from this book. It was interesting enough to keep me reading and I reached a part where I really thought it was pretty dumb. Then the book turned on me and renewed my faith in Tana French's ability as a writer. She truly does handle her craft rather well and I'm learning to go the distance with her and trust she'll carry the story through handsomely until the end. The narration on this was very good. I felt he handled the female voices well.

I didn't expect much from this, being that it's so old. I also expected it to be written in an overly-verbose way. I was wrong on all counts. It's very blunt and to the point. No lollygagging. It really puts you in the stockade with the prisoners. I'm sure not all of it is true, because obviouslly you wouldn't write a diary about escaping from prison while you're in prison, but it's a good book. Not boring at all.

Stop the Coming Civil War: My Savage Truth

According to Michael Savage, our nation is in real trouble and the seeds of a second conflagration have been sown. Not between the states - but between true patriots who believe in our nation's founding principles and those he believes are working every day to undermine them and change the very nature of the country. Not a war of bullets and blood - but one of commitment to freedom and courage of conviction. Michael Savage is convinced that we face more than just political differences now.

I think the narrator does a pretty good job with this book. For the first hour, I thought it was kind of dry and boring or that it wasn't any different from listening to the radio show. then it picked up and to tell you the truth, it's scarier than anything Stephen King can write. The radio show is kind of a freestyle that bounces off callers, but this is more like a log of a lot of things going wrong in this country that you either forgot about or didn't know the depth of. It's not a perfect book. There are some things I disagree with, but it is worth reading so that you might cherry-pick your own ideas out of it. Overall, I felt it was a pretty sober-minded account if you want to grasp how and why our country has become so neutered. Lets all hope there truly is never another civil war.

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison

With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money 10 years ago. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to 15 months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187-424 - one of the millions of women who disappear "down the rabbit hole" of the American penal system.

I know nothing about the TV show, but this was on sale and I thought I'd give it an open-minded try. Within the first half hour, I could tell this was chick lit through and through by the tone and content of it. A bored chick with nothing else going on in her life, so she starts hustling drug money internationally. I endured for 4 chapters, then deleted it. I think a female audience might be able to suspend disbelief and handle the tone of the book better, but I wouldn't recommend it to men to read.

Falling Glass

Richard Coulter is a man who has everything. His beautiful new wife is pregnant, his upstart airline is undercutting the competition and moving from strength to strength, his diversification into the casino business in Macau has been successful, and his fabulous Art Deco house on an Irish cliff top has just been featured in Architectural Digest. But then, for some reason, his ex-wife Rachel doesn’t keep her side of the custody agreement and vanishes off the face of the earth with Richard’s two daughters. Richard hires Killian, a formidable ex-enforcer for the IRA, to track her down before Rachel, a recovering drug addict, harms herself or the girls.

McKinty's series books are great. Some of the best you can read. I was hugely disappointed with this and gave up on it with about 40 minutes left to go. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't compelling. Couldn't get attached to any of the characters. It wasn't fun. I do, however, recommend Hidden River which blew me away and is in my opinion his best book.

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